Vice Admiral Ganesh Mahadevan joined the Indian Navy as a cadet (38 NDA) and was commissioned on 01 Jan 1972.  The Flag officer did his Basic Engineering Course at INS Shivaji and advanced Electrical course at INS Valsura.  He is an alumnus of the National Defence College (42 NDC).

            The Flag Officer has had an extensive exposure to wide variety of technically challenging assignments and has had the opportunity to interact with a wide cross section of professionals from technical and industrial background during the past three decades while in the Navy.  He has made immense contribution towards development of weapon systems including sonar and missiles in India and in interactions with other countries and Navies including Russia.

            He served five tenures in Naval Dockyards at different points of time in the capacity of Assistant Manager Design, Manager Weapons, General Manager (Technical), Chief Staff Officer (Technical) and Admiral Superintendent Dockyard Visakhapatnam. 

            Before taking over as Chief of Materiel on 01 Nov 09, he has had five appointments at Naval Headquarters.  He has served Directorate of Weapon Engineering (DWE), Directorate of Electrical Engineering (DEE) and Directorate of Information Technology (DIT) during these tenures.  During his appointment as Assistance Chief of Material (Information Technology & Systems), the Flag Officer was involved in various weapons and IT projects of national interest before assuming the office of Controller Warship Production and Acquisition on 01 Jan 09.

          He has also been at the helm of affairs as Commanding Officer INS Kalinga, Admiral Superintendent Dockyard, Visakhapatnam and Director General Naval Project, Visakhapatnam. As Controller Warship Production and Acquisition, he was involved in shaping policy regarding warship design and construction in the country. Presently Admiral is heading the Materiel Branch as Chief of Materiel.

            The officer is an avid reader, illustrator and sculptor. He is linguistically skilled and able to handle various languages.